Pranab says Fitch concern ‘out of context’

The Government has termed Fitch’s concern about the economic growth, inflationary pressures, and weak public finances as “out of context.” The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, reacting to the rating agency’s move to revise the outlook, said, “Although Government welcomes the observations made by Fitch Ratings regarding the strong fundamentals of the Indian economy, its concerns about the economic growth, inflationary pressures, and weak public finances are not placed in the context of the present state of the global economy and are based on older data.” He also said that there is no surprise element in Fitch’s announcement. However, the agency ignored the recent positive trends in the Indian economy, he alleged. He listed UIDAI, fertiliser subsidy reform, capping subsidies as a fraction of GDP, new manufacturing policy, new telecom policy etc as positive developments.